RE: Phylogeny of Maniraptora

["Tim Williams" <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Ralph W. Miller II <dinoguyralph@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> I don't know.  If you were _Microraptor gui_ back in the Early Cretaceous,
> how would you propose locomoting with your feathered appendages?

Three ways:

(1) Running (hindlimbs + tail) - i.e. the old-fashioned way, on terra firma.

(2) Climbing trees (forelimbs + hindlimbs) - Branch-clambering or 
trunk-climbing, take your pick.

(3) Aerial gliding (forelimbs + hindlimbs + tail).  If the femur was capable 
of enhanced adduction/abduction upon the primitive theropod condition, then 
the "hindwing" may have formed a coplanar surface with the "forewing".

All in all, _Microraptor_ and its kin were very versatile little critters.



Tim

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